This comprehensive course will teach you how to operate the Bosch^© Crash Data Retrieval (CDR) system hardware and software to image crash data from supported car and light truck event data recorders (EDR’s) as well as analyze the downloaded data and apply it to your reconstructions.

We begin with a history of EDR’s, what vehicles have EDR information you can retrieve, and what typeof information you can expect by model and model year.  From there, we will take you step-by-step through the process of operating the Bosch^© CDR hardware and software.  You will practice locating connection points, properly connecting the unit to the vehicles, supplying power to both the EDR and the CDR tool, initiating the necessary commands, and successfully storing files from modules in the classroom, from operational vehicles, and from crashed vehicles that have partially destroyed electrical systems.  The course is designed around numerous individual and group exercises that will give you hands-on application and practice of the procedures in a variety of situations. 

In addition, we’ll teach you how to reconcile EDR data with roadway evidence calculations to yield a complete reconstruction considering all available evidence.  Simple checklists and guides will be provided to improve your consistency and accuracy, and templates will take some of the work out of more complex analysis.  You will be given several EDR reports from supported manufacturers from real world crashes and will work in teams to analyze the EDR data and reconcile it to the scene evidence you are given.  Analysis will also cover identifying staged collisions in insurance fraud cases.

During the course, we will teach you how to:
•  Select the proper imaging method based upon the situation
•  Analyze any set of EDR data you encounter, regardless of manufacturer
•  Recognize the six vehicle operational conditions where EDR speed data has been improperly used
•  Determine the effect that equipment modifications have on EDR speed data
•  Use precrash data to identify when a vehicle lost control in order to select the peak speed before the vehicle lost control
•  Calculate the appropriate ranges for speed at impact for different EDR’s
•  Use accelerator pedal release and brake application timing as the first reaction to an impending crash
•  Use time-distance analysis to estimate the point of first perception
•  Utilize EDR data to gain previously unavailable insight into driver behavior and approach speed rather than impact  speed
•  Use EDR analysis methods that will work for any manufacturer’s data, even those not yet released to publicly available imaging tools  
•  Use OEM specific Excel^© templates to analyze EDR data
•  Support Frye and Daubert hearings with references to copyrighted research and non-copyrighted items
•  Use the same analysis techniques for heavy trucks although the data available differs from passenger car and light truck reports
•  Understand the new National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Part 563 rule (effective September 2012) that will standardize EDR data and make more data available in more severe crashes

Notes:  Please bring your Bosch^© EDR kit and battery booster boxes to class, if you have them, as well as tools to access EDR’s and protective clothing appropriate for working in wrecks with sharp edges and broken glass.         

Prerequisite:  You must have successfully completed IPTM’s Advanced Traffic Crash Investigation course or its equivalent and have an understanding of traditional scene evidence traffic crash reconstruction such as slide to stop formulas, momentum analysis, and critical speed yaw analysis.  No prior experience with the Bosch^© Crash Data Retrieval System is required.

Audience:  Law enforcement and private traffic crash investigators, insurance fraud special investigators and claims adjusters, engineers, attorneys, safety officers, military investigative personnel, collision animation and simulation  graphics users

Course length:  40 hours